My horse had a rough year last year. He had a coffin bone bruise in the summer, followed by being diagnosed with EPM after X-raying the majority of his body and injecting his SI and back. The primary issue I was having prior to treatment was back pain, behavioral issues, and struggling with the right lead canter. He was dragging his hind toes, tripping a lot, clunking over poles and hardly able to jump a cavaletti. I gave him 1.5 months off while he was treated for EPM with Protazil. Our first rides back, his behavior was bad, but he felt perfectly sound and cantering felt the same both directions. He’s been back in work for about a month now, and his attitude is better, he isn’t dragging his toes, he can trot poles without stepping on them, but the right lead feels like crap again. So… what’s causing the issue with the right lead? Does he need to be on Protazil longer or is this unrelated? His left lead is perfectly balanced and feels like he could be a third level dressage horse… the right is barely a true canter, more of a tranter. He can gallop on the right lead, but any amount of collection is practically impossible. I don’t think it’s weakness because when I was bringing him back from the bone bruise, I kept thinking weakness but he never got any stronger, it only got worse, and seems to be doing the same again now. Thoughts?
Did you look at stifles and hoof angles? For my horse, her stifle, SI, and back pain were all interlinked and we didn’t see full improvement until we treated them all and corrected her hind hoof angles.
EPM can cause permanent damage and deficits. My friend went through this with horse. He went lame before developing additional neurological symptoms.
Yes, added hind shoes and took X-rays of hind feet — all good there. Front hooves needed a lot of work (unbalanced and NPA) but the X-rays are good now. X-rayed the right stifle since he doesn’t like having it brushed — nothing on xray. Haven’t done the left. Treated with misoprosil for two weeks incase the flank/stifle area sensitivity was caused by ulcers but didn’t see any change so didn’t continue treating.
Ugh I hope that’s not the case. Seems strange that he was ok when I first restarted him and has gotten progressively worse again. Makes me think something is painful from being back in work… but what?
EPM may not hit all the nerves the same, causing more or less damage on both sides of the body. Therefore you must exercise, rebuild the muscle, nerve connections to get back to “what he used to be” as a performer. A month and a half is not really much time to expect 100% yet!
Long ago, but our EPM horse had a very “light” case, more loss of coordination, grumpy, than terrible physical signs. Just NQR which we blamed on age, life of hard use.
He was treated with Marquis, showed visible attitude improvement in less than 7 days! He was not used during the 28-day treatment. After that Doc said “Get on and ride him, see what you have.” Horse was pretty good ridden, stiffer in bending, using both leads well. We put an exercise program together that DD rode with him about 5 days a week for about 6 weeks, until school and weather interferred. Husband drove him, did various exercises in harness, since he was an experienced CDE horse. There was quite a bit of cantering, hand gallop work both ridden and driven, both leads. Made him use his body, building the stress SLOWLY to allow him to rebuild his body.
By Spring we considered him “back to normal” for use, both light work or hard. Vet was very happy with horse, still was amazed at us catching the EPM so early. Horse PASSED the usual pre-purchase tests, nothing to SEE as he moved. Just that NQR to us who knew him so very well. Blood test showed him carrying the EPM, which Vet said was true of most pastured horses in our State. Even Vet’s own pricy Arabs carried EPM, they were all pastured. Being stressed released the protozoa from spinal cord into nervous system. Horse had been greatly stressed with his routine changes over summer. Joining 4H, hauling to activities alone were hard on him.
The point here, is that perhaps setting up an exercise program to specifically work the weaker parts may be helpful. Check how long it takes nerves to regrow or strengthen after damage, in setting targets for expectations in recovering to full use. I truly think good cantering, real
hand-galloping help horse use a LOT of his body, so he gets his parts working together again. More beneficial as he improves some, than just gentle work. Not sure poles or jumping now, is helping rebuild him. If his nerves are not working well he CANNOT lift legs properly yet. Beyond his ability, could cause tripping or a fall until he improves.
Good luck with him. Our old boy was 18yrs when he got the EPM. After recovery we got to fully enjoy using him for another 6 years.
There is another discussion about EPM here that has some information. Please check for ulcers. They are common in horse with EPM. Vitamin E helps, too. My horse relapsed last month. I put him back on Protazil. I rode today for the first time in three weeks. He’s not 100% and I’ll be doing rehab with him to deal with the damage. Canter us a no-go right now. He has been tossing his head on the lunge; could be because of EPM or his teeth as he is due for a float.
My vet said my horse may need to be on a low dose of Protazil long term.
I had a horse with shivers and the EPM treatment helped overnight- I used the loading dose then gave him a tube every other week or so. Eventually he was diagnosed with EDM and euthanized but for several years the EPM treatment helped loads with the shivers
This is facinating.
I used Totazaril (sp) - It is an off-label use of a sheep wormer, I believe. Less costly and worked wonders
Update: we treated him with Protazil for 1.5 months and he showed some improvement, but the right lead canter did not improve. I took him for a bone scan and his neck lit up. Turns out he has malformed C6 and C7 vertebrae, aka ECVM. We injected the facet joints… hoping to relieve some inflammation and pain from arthritis in the joints. Shockwave and OSPHOS were also recommended. He passed a neurological exam.
Blimey. When horses aren’t doing their best to put themselves in the hospital, uncontrollable forces are conspiring on the overnight shift to get them there anyway. What a damn heartbreak, but hooray for sticking with the treatment and enjoying him for quite some more time.
